The Deal

Following a hidden passage behind the liquor cabinet, the Cripple carefully made his way without making the slightest sound. He went around piles of rum and liquor jars, then climbed over two large crates filled with smuggled tobacco and white sugar. At the end of the passage stood a stone wall.

In the pitch-black passage, a single line of light shone from the stone wall. The Cripple pressed himself against it and peered through the slit of light. On the other side was a small, comfortably furnished room. The candlelight from more than a dozen white candles brightly illuminated the modest space, while a circle of large chairs covered in animal hide surrounded the room. Lin Qi sat in one of them, guzzling liquor with a strange grin that made people want to punch him right in the face.

The Cripple's pupils shrank to pinpoints. He recognized the bronze liquor bottle in Lin Qi's hand—it was one of the few bottles of century-old rum left in the entire Cripple's Shop. For liquor this fine and this old, money could no longer measure its value. It existed more as a legend of the Cripple's Shop.

That damned little devil. How did he find this treasure? The Cripple trembled with rage, but when his gaze swept past Lin Qi and landed on Enzo, who stood nearby like a drawn sword, he could only bare his teeth helplessly and shake his head.

He reached out and pressed the stone wall. One side silently slid open, and the Cripple walked out with a radiant smile.

"Hey, heh-heh, what good stuff has my dearest little friend brought me?" The Cripple rubbed his hands vigorously, deliberately avoiding looking at Lin Qi, who was sitting there drinking. His greedy eyes only kept circling the cloth-wrapped bundle beneath Enzo's arm. He knew Lin Qi's personality well: without enough benefits, there was no chance of getting him to take even one step into the Cripple's Shop. He was young, but sharper than any old hand in the underworld!

Such a promising little devil. His father really did have an extraordinary child, the Cripple sighed inwardly.

Seeing the Cripple enter, Lin Qi shook the liquor bottle hard, tipping the last few drops into his mouth. After exhaling a satisfied breath of alcohol, he casually tossed the bottle onto the floor, producing a loud crash that made the Cripple's heart ache. After belching contentedly, Lin Qi clapped his hands and called out with a grin, "Dear Uncle Cripple, every time I see you, it's as if I see heaps of gleaming Ooh-ooh-calls and shining silver coins. You'll give me a satisfactory price, won't you?"

The Cripple glared fiercely at the bronze bottle rolling across the floor, then slowly pulled one gold coin and one silver coin from his belt.

The gold coins currently used by the Seventh Empire bore the likeness of Louis XIII on the front and a proud, strutting rooster on the back. Everyone with ties to the underworld tacitly called the gold coins "Ooh-ooh-calls." As for the empire's latest silver coins, they bore a lark spreading its wings in flight on the reverse, and so they had acquired the nickname "Chirp-chirp-calls."

With an unconcerned air, the Cripple tossed the gold coin and silver coin onto the only small square table in the room, then lifted his chin and laughed. "Uncle Cripple has plenty of cute little roosters and larks here. As long as my dear little friend can produce something that interests me, the price won't be a problem."

Lin Qi belched. Enzo silently stepped forward and placed the cloth bundle beneath his arm heavily on the square table. The Cripple swiftly untied it. Inside were six Stabbing Swords coated in rustproof oil. Their hilts fit neatly in one hand, and their blades were four feet long. Fine, slender lines resembling flowing clouds and water ran evenly across them, clearly showing the exceptional quality of the steel. The tips shimmered with dazzling blue-green light, and their biting, icy sharpness struck the face so fiercely that no one dared look directly at them.

"Yo, yo, what lovely little treasures!" The Cripple's eyes lit up. He nimbly pounced onto the square table, his fingers lightly brushing across the six Stabbing Swords like a fickle libertine caressing the body of an incomparable beauty. His fingertips trembled faintly as he carefully traced every cloud-and-water pattern on the blades. The steel was dense and resilient—truly, every one of them was a first-rate sword.

The Cripple casually seized one of the Stabbing Swords. With a flick of his hand, all the candlelight in the room suddenly dimmed. A hissing sound like a venomous snake biting its prey rang through the air, and several streaks of cold light too fast for the naked eye to distinguish tore through the air and stabbed into a suit of armor standing in the corner.

The armor was made mainly of thick cowhide, with palm-sized steel plates embedded at its vital points. Beneath the force of the Cripple's sword, the cowhide was ripped apart like paper. The steel plates over the chest and beneath the arms, each a finger thick, let out shrill cries before the sword tip pierced through them.

The candlelight flashed again. The Cripple withdrew the Stabbing Sword and examined it closely before him. Only a few abrasion marks finer than strands of hair marred the blade; it was essentially undamaged. He couldn't help clicking his tongue in astonishment. The armor standing in the corner as decoration had cost him a fortune. He had obtained it from a military supply depot of the empire's regular army, and it was a standard-issue suit of fine armor that only mid-ranking officers could wear.

Before this Stabbing Sword, the armor reserved for mid-ranking officers was utterly defenseless. It was obvious just how formidable the sword's penetrating power was.

Seeing the result of the Cripple's test, Lin Qi laughed heartily. He rubbed his hands excitedly as countless gold and silver coins seemed to dance before his eyes. He grinned at Enzo and said, "I told you, I told you! This batch was sure to satisfy Uncle Cripple, wasn't it, Uncle Cripple? It took us no small effort to get them out of the Military Academy's storeroom!"

The Cripple snorted coldly. He carefully placed the Stabbing Sword on the table, then narrowed his eyes at the six swords and fell silent.

Lin Qi raised his brows, both hands slipping into his sleeves at the same time. Enzo silently placed a hand on his waist, where a hidden pouch held a longsword identical to the Stabbing Swords on the table. After judging the distance between himself and the Cripple, Enzo determined that with a single thrust, he had a ninety percent chance of piercing the Cripple's throat.

The candlelight in the room trembled faintly. Something moved through the room, and the wind it stirred rippled the flames.

The hair on the back of the Cripple's neck suddenly stood on end. Like a frog watched by a venomous snake, he broke out in gooseflesh all over.

After pondering for a while, the Cripple shook his head with a cold laugh. "The Military Academy's storeroom would have weapons this fine? Damn it, Stabbing Swords capable of piercing a palm-thick plate of homogeneous steel are priceless treasures, and plenty of people who have paid through the nose are waiting for them. But I want to hear the truth. Where did you get them?"

Enzo's hand gripped the sword hilt steadily, his severe, razor-sharp gaze locked tightly onto the Cripple's throat.

Lin Qi crossed one leg over the other without a care and said with a chuckle, "Does it matter where they came from? In any case, they won't be staying in your hands!"

The Cripple frowned. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly laughed and shook his head.

Putting on an act of generosity, the Cripple pulled a greasy money pouch from inside his robes, grabbed a handful of gold coins from it, and tossed them onto the square table.

Lin Qi's eyes abruptly turned golden yellow. Cheering, he lunged forward.